I took a sip of water. I liked him—my instinct was that he was genuinely concerned. ‘A bit confused.’
‘Yeah, I know the feeling.’ He pul ed out a notebook to check his facts. ‘You’ve got the police departments of two states and the FBI in a spin, but we’re glad we found you safe and wel .’ He tapped the page thoughtful y. ‘Maybe you’d best start from the top—tel us how you were snatched.’
I strained to remember. ‘It was getting dark. I’d been skiing—wel , fal ing over on skis real y.’
Victor smiled, his face reminding me so much of Zed when it took on a softer expression. ‘Yeah, I’d heard you were taking lessons.’
‘Tina’s car had a problem.’
Farstein checked his notes. ‘The mechanic discovered that someone messed with the leads to the battery.’
‘Oh.’ I rubbed my forehead. The next steps were shaky. ‘Then Zed and Xav persuaded me to get in a car. They locked me in the boot. No, no, they didn’t.’ I pinched the bridge of my nose. ‘I can see them doing it but it doesn’t feel right.’
‘Sky.’ Victor’s tone was low and insistent. ‘What is it you’re seeing?’
Farstein cut across him. ‘Are you saying, Sky, that two of the Benedict brothers were responsible for your abduction?’
Something clicked in my head. The pictures flowing easily, smoothly, without pain.
‘They pretended to be my friend, wanted to hurt me.’
‘You know that’s not true, Sky.’ Victor was furious, his lips compressed.
Farstein shot him a quel ing look. ‘Agent Benedict, you should not interrupt the witness. And bearing in mind your relationship to those she’s accusing, I suggest you step outside and send in a col eague who can listen impartial y.’
Victor stalked to the door, his back to the room, but didn’t leave. ‘What she’s saying is impossible. I was with my brothers, lieutenant; they had nothing to do with her kidnapping.’ Sky, why are you saying this?
I looked frantical y to Sal y. ‘He’s talking to me in my head—tel him to stop.’ I pressed my fists to my temples. ‘It hurts.’
Sal y took my hand, standing between me and Victor. ‘Mr Benedict, I think you’d best go: you’re upsetting Sky.’
I turned tear-fil ed eyes to Farstein. ‘I shot them, didn’t I?’
‘No, Sky, you weren’t responsible for the deaths of those men.’
‘Zed and Xav are dead?’
Farstein threw Sal y an anxious look. ‘No,’ he said careful y, ‘the two men who staked out the warehouse are dead.’
‘Gator and O’Hal oran,’ I repeated, remembering them. ‘The savant.’
‘The what?’ asked Farstein.
Which one, Sky? asked Victor urgently.
‘Go away from me!’ I pul ed the covers over my head. ‘Get out of my head.’
Farstein sighed and closed his notebook. ‘I can see we are doing more harm than good here, Mrs Bright. We’l leave Sky to get some rest. Agent Benedict, I want a word with you.’
Victor nodded. ‘Down the hal . Take it easy, Sky.
It’l come back.’
The two men left. I lowered the covers to find Sal y watching me with fear in her eyes.
‘I’m going mad, aren’t I?’ I asked her. ‘I can’t remember—and what I remember feels wrong.’
She brushed her thumb over my knuckles. ‘You’re not mad. You’re recovering from trauma. It takes time. We think the people who did this to you are probably dead, kil ed in the shootout. The police are just trying to tie up the loose ends.’
I wish someone would tie up the loose ends in my brain. My thoughts were like ragged bunting from some abandoned party whipping about in the wind—
no purpose, no anchor.
‘If Zed and Xav didn’t kidnap me, then why do I think they did?’
Thanksgiving came and went, the only sign the turkey dinner in hospital. My mind was no clearer. I felt like a beach after the passing of a tidal wave—
odds and ends thrown up on the shore, al out of place, smashed to pieces. I was aware of the passage of great emotion through me but I couldn’t sort it out, what had been real, what had been false.
I’d let something loose inside and not control ed it—
the result had been devastating.
Zed and his brother were cleared of al suspicion by the Las Vegas police department. So why had I accused them? I was racked with guilt that I had involved them in this, too embarrassed to see any of the Benedicts. I made my parents promise that they wouldn’t let them in—I couldn’t face them. I wasn’t able to keep Victor out though; he came several times with Farstein to see if I remembered any more.
I apologized to him, and the policeman, for getting it wrong, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Victor hated me now.
‘Nightmares, Miss Bright—that’s what they are,’
Farstein said in a practical tone of voice. ‘You’ve gone through a terrifying experience and your mind got muddled.’
He was being kind but I could tel he dismissed me as next to useless in his enquiries. Everyone agreed that I’d been kidnapped, but no one could prove that anyone beyond the two men in the warehouse had been involved. I was the key but I wasn’t opening any doors for them.
Farstein brought me a pack of cards and a bunch of flowers on his last visit. ‘Here you are, Miss Bright, I hope these help you feel better.’ He split open the packet and shuffled. ‘I imagine you must be bored stuck in here. My city is a good place to visit for most folks; I’m sorry you had such a bad time with us.’ He cut the cards and dealt me a hand.
Victor was hanging back, watching us from the doorway. ‘You’re not corrupting the girl, are you, Farstein?’
‘Can’t leave Vegas without taking one gamble.’
‘I don’t know many games,’ I admitted.
‘Let’s keep it to Snap then.’
‘If I win?’
‘You get the flowers.’
‘If I lose?’
‘You stil get the flowers, but you have to give me one for my buttonhole.’
Farstein left with a carnation pinned to his lapel.
Victor stayed behind. He stood looking out of the window for a moment, his disquiet clear.
‘Sky, why don’t you want to see Zed?’
I closed my eyes.
‘He’s real y cut up. I’ve never seen him like this. I know he blames himself for what happened to you, but it’s knocked him off his stride in a major way.’
I said nothing.
‘I’m worried about him.’
Victor was not one to confide in someone outside the family. He real y must be concerned. But what could I do? I could barely find the courage to get up in the morning.
‘He got in a fight last night.’
A fight? ‘Is he al right?’
‘From the brawl? Yeah, it was more words than fists.’
‘Who did he fight?’
‘A couple of guys from Aspen. He went looking for it, Sky. And in answer to your other question, he isn’t al right. He’s hurting. It’s like he’s bleeding inside, somewhere he thinks no one can see.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘But you’re not going to do anything about it?’
Tears pricked the back of my eyes. ‘What do you want me to do?’
He held out a hand to me. ‘Stop shutting him out.
Help him.’
I swal owed. There was a streak of ruthlessness to Victor that wouldn’t let me duck behind the excuse of my confusion—it was both scary and chal enging. ‘I’l
… I’l try.’
His hand curled into a fist before he let it drop. ‘I hope you do, because if something bad happens to my brother, I’m not going to be pleased.’
‘Is that a … a threat?’
‘No, just the truth.’ He shook his head, his irritation clear. ‘You can get through this, Sky. Start looking outside yourself—that’l help you heal.’
At the end of November, I was released from hospital but my parents had decided on the advice of the doctors not to take me straight home.
‘Too
many